Hill & Owen Grand Piano: Museum Object and Cultural History
Hill & Owen Grand Piano: date made: 1850. maker: Hill & Owen. Object Name: piano.
The object in the museum catalogue
This grand piano was made by Hill & Owen in Boston, Massachusetts in 1851. Very little is known of the partnership of Freedom Hill and Henry Owen. Both appear in the in the Boston city directory in 1851 but are no longer listed after that date. To get at the strings, the entire lid and soundboard must be raised, which makes the piano top-heavy, tending to tip over to its spine. This is the only known grand piano by this firm. This piano is serial number 119(?), and has a compass of CC-c5, “Plastic Elastic Touch” direct-blow jack action, strings underneath soundboard, CC-EE single-strung, FF-c5 double-strung, 2 pedals: una corda and dampers, partial iron frame with iron tension bars, straight-strung, and a veneered case.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: 1850
- maker: Hill & Owen
- Object Name: piano
- Physical Description: iron (strings material)
- Physical Description: felt (hammers material)
- Physical Description: iron (frame material)
- Measurements: overall: 15 in x 51 1/2 in x 52 in; 38.1 cm x 130.81 cm x 132.08 cm
- Measurements: overall: leg: 24 3/4 in x 7 1/2 in; 62.865 cm x 19.05 cm
- place made: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
- ID Number: MI.303523
- catalog number: 303523
- accession number: 62559
- Credit Line: Gift of Hugo Worch
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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